Mythological Superheroes: 2. Bhima

As compared to fictional superheroes, our mythological ones while possessing amazing powers, remain devoted to the Lord and are always humble. They possess a sense of righteousness and never use their powers to promote evil or Adharma. Our next superhero in this series is none other than Bhima, who is the epitome of all these qualities. 

Bhima, as we all know is a character from the great epic Mahabharata. He was the second of Pandava brothers born to Kunthi through the blessings of Vayudeva. He was educated under Dronacharya and underwent mace-warfare training under Lord Balarama. He was one of the greatest fighters of his time. During the Great War, Pandavas depended heavily on Bhima. True to his fame, Bhima killed all the 100 Kauravas in the war.

Strength of Bhima

There are several narratives that are testament to Bhima’s towering physical strength. In his childhood days, Bhima used to engage in wrestling bouts with the Kauravas and handed humiliating defeats to them. This angered Duryodhana so much that he hatched a cunning plot to kill Bhima by poisoning his food and drown him in river Ganga. However Bhima was saved by the serpent Lord Vasuki who bestowed him with a strength of several thousand elephants.

On another occasion, Duryodhana planned to burn the Pandavas in a flammable palace (Lakshagraha) at Varanavata. Thanks to prior notice from Vidura, Pandavas managed to escape  with Bhima setting fire to the palace to fake their death. He carried his mother and all his brothers effortlessly through the forest and took them to safety. Gladdened by the act, Yudhisthira bestowed more wishes on his brother.

After escaping the murder plot, the Pandavas were living in hiding at Ekachakrapuri in the disguise of Brahmacharis. At that time, a demon Bakasura was eating members of the village in turns. When the turn of the villager who gave them refuge arrived, Bhima took his place and rode with the food to the demon. Upon reaching the cave of the demon, Bhima started to eat all the food he brought, much to the anger of Bakasura. He explained that he ate the food for two reasons – one, as there is going to a big fight, all the food might get strewn on the floor rendering it unfit to eat and two, once he kills Bakasura he has to go through the purifying ceremony first since he would have touched the ‘corpse’! Then Bhima kills Bakasura, much to the delight of the villagers.

His Righteousness

While the above episodes are testimony to his brute strength, there are other qualities of Bhima that are worthy of praise. When Yudhishthira succumbed to Shakuni’s evil plan and lost everything in the game of dice, their wife Draupadi is humiliated in the open court only for Lord Krishna to rescue her by the offer of clothes. While nobody questioned what happened, it was Bhima who roared in displeasure and vowed to burn his own brother’s hands for his act of gambling away his wife. Though he was pacified by Arjuna later, his unwavering sense of righteousness is unquestionable.

His Love for Draupadi

Bhima was also very affectionate towards his wife Draupadi. Though he had a rough exterior, he was always very tender towards her. Once in Badarikasrama, Draupadi smelled the fragrance of Saugandhika flower and requested Bhima to fetch it for her. Without hesitation, Bhima set out for the task and met a monkey with its tail on the way. Not knowing who it was, he arrogantly tried to move the tail away. However even with all his might he wasn’t able to move it. Defeated and surprised he begged for forgiveness. The monkey revealed himself to be Hanuman (his brother) who blessed him with increased strength. With Hanuman’s guidance he brought back the flower to Draupadi who was thrilled.

In another episode, along with his brothers Bhima spent the last year of exile in the kingdom of Virata, disguised himself as a cook named Vallabha. Draupadi was disguised as Sairandhri, the chief maid of the queen. Kichaka, the army commander, was harassing Draupadi to marry him. Draupadi reported this incident to Bhima. Though Bhima was enraged, he hatched a clever plan to kill Kichaka without revealing their disguises (else, it will result in them going to exile once again). He sent a message to Kichaka imitating Draupadi  to come alone at midnight. He covered himself with silk robes and appeared like a woman. The moment Kichaka tried to touch him he landed a heavy blow on him. A great fight ensued and finally Kichaka was crushed and slaughtered by Bhima. This shows not only his affection towards Draupadi but also his intelligent planning to counter any enemy threat.

Bhima, the pacifier

It may be tough to imagine, but Bhima was a lover of peace. After completing 13 years in exile/hiding, Pandavas convened a meeting and when Bhima was asked his opinion about the impending war, he proposed peace saying that they should avoid war and accept just five villages instead. Though peace did not materialize, it is evident that a brave soldier does not want to take arms when there are other peaceful means to explore.

Devotion to Lord Krishna

Though not well-known, Bhima showed extreme loyalty and servitude to Lord Krishna. On the 15th day of the great war, guru Drona was raging an intense battle killing thousands of soldiers from the Pandava camp. In order to stop him, Krishna asked one of the Pandavas to deliver the false news to Drona that ‘ his son Ashwathama has died’ which will make him throw away his weapons and stop fighting. While the other Pandavas were hesitating, Bhima came forward to do the shameful deed in order to follow the Lord’s words. He found an ingenious way by picking an elephant by name Ashwathama and killed it. He then went near Drona and told him loudly that Ashwatthama had died. This eventually caused Guru Drona’s death in the hands of his archenemy, Dhristadyumna. This incident highlights his immense and unflinching bhakti towards Lord Krishna.

It is on Lord Krishna’s advice that he hit Duryodhana below the hip to deliver a killer blow. After 18 days of war, when Duryodhana was the only one left, he chose Bhima as his opponent for a mace fight. During the ferocious fight, Krishna sensing that Bhima was tiring, signaled to him to hit Duryodhana’s thighs. Bhima did as Krishna directed and vanquished him. Knowing fully that he will attain infamy by this illegal gesture, he still submitted fully to Lord Krishna and did his bidding. Probably Bhima was the first follower of Bhagavad Gita who performed his duty without worrying about the results!

There is a poem in Kannada that is worth a mention here:

‘dasaraliye hanumanantha dasrasu yelli illa
bhaktaraliye bhimanantha bhaktaru yelli illa’

“Among those who serve the Lord there is none like Hanuman and among those who have faith in Lord there is none like Bhima. “

Jai Bhima!

Previously on this series –  Garuda.